By the way, 'Sheriff Joe' is pardoned | Guest column

They call it the Friday Dump. In Washington, the Friday Dump is standard operating procedure.

When releasing news that will cause you to look bad to some, do it late on a Friday. Newspaper readership is down on Saturdays, and fewer people watch television news the entire weekend.

That’s why journalists were suspicious when the White House chose Friday evening to announce President Donald Trump had pardoned former Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio, convicted of criminal contempt in a case of bias against Latinos.

“Sheriff Joe” has his supporters for relentlessly hunting down and locking up undocumented immigrants. But he also has his detractors, who consider him a publicity-seeking bigot.

The White House knew the pardon — although hardly a surprise — would not be applauded by all.

Meanwhile, Hurricane Harvey was bearing down on the Gulf Coast, threatening to take lives and cause catastrophic damage. The public was giving Harvey a lot of attention.

So it was a good time for the White House to release controversial news. And the news wasn’t confined to the presidential pardon of Arpaio. The president also signed, and thereby made official, the ban on transgender people serving in the military, something opposed by liberals.

And unnamed White House officials confirmed that presidential assistant Sebastian Gorka, an outspoken critic of Islam, had been let go, which was sure to anger many conservatives.

Presidential candidate Donald Trump is joined by Joe Arpaio, the sheriff of metro Phoenix, at a campaign event Jan. 26, 2016, in Marshalltown, Iowa. Trump pardoned former sheriff Joe Arpaio following his conviction for intentionally disobeying a judge's order in an immigration case. The White House announced the move Friday, Aug. 25, 2017, saying the 85-year-old ex-sheriff of Arizona's Maricopa County was a "worthy candidate" for a presidential pardon.(Photo: AP PHOTO/MARY ALTAFFER)

Perhaps you were not following the news closely Friday evening and over the weekend. You had better things to do: shopping, washing the car, watching kids’ soccer. If any story interested you, it probably was Hurricane Harvey.

You might have missed the background reporting about Sheriff Joe. Allow me to fill you in with information reported by The New York Times.

In 1992, Arpaio became sheriff of Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix. In his first term, he banned coffee in prison. He would be re-elected five times.

Inmates were sent to Tent City, which Sheriff Joe called a “concentration camp,” and forced to don pink underwear and work on chain gangs.

His deputies were accused of racial abuse and the fatal intimidation of prisoners.

Two owners of The Phoenix New Times, a weekly unfriendly to the sheriff, were arrested in their home. The charges were dropped, and the newspaper’s owners won a settlement.

In 2011, the Justice Department charged Arpaio with maintaining “a pervasive culture of discrimination against Latinos.”

In 2013, a federal judge ruled the sheriff and his deputies had violated the constitutional rights of Latinos and ordered an independent monitor to make sure the sheriff’s office ended biased practices.

Later, the same judge said his ruling had been defied and had Arpaio prosecuted for criminal contempt.

In July, Arpaio was convicted, with sentencing scheduled for October.

That’s the legal story. Here are other important facts:

Sheriff Joe was a leading proponent of the theory that President Barack Obama was not born in the United States, which has been thoroughly debunked.

Arpaio was an early supporter of Trump for president.

In November, Trump was elected, and Arpaio lost re-election.

Do you have bad news to communicate to friends and relatives?

Are you and your spouse getting a divorce? Have you been fired? Has your kid been arrested for drug trafficking?

Send out an email late on a Friday. If a hurricane is coming, all the better.

Paul Janensch, a seasonal resident of Vero Beach, was a newspaper editor and taught journalism at Quinnipiac University in Connecticut. His weekly “Treasure Coast Essay” can be heard on WQCS, 88.9 FM, and wqcs.org. Email: paul.janensch@quinnipiac.edu.